Lance Lahnert: Lone Star Conference votes for football playoff format

The Lone Star Conference football season will not be the same beginning in 2014 thanks to a vote Friday at the NCAA Convention in Grapevine.

While no official title has been tagged to the event, the final two weeks of the 2014 LSC season will consist of a playoff determining an outright LSC champion.

The final two weeks of the regular season — after a single round-robin schedule starting in Week 3 — will be devoted to a playoff system beginning in week 10.

The upper half of the bracket will consist of teams finishing first, second, third and fourth.

The bottom half of the bracket will consist of teams finishing fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.

The highest seeds will host the opening-round games. The winners in each bracket and the losers in each bracket will play each other the next week, with the higher seeds hosting.

For instance, in the upper bracket, No. 1 will host No. 4, and No. 2 will host No. 3. The two winners will play for the LSC championship. The two losers will play for third place. In the bottom half of the bracket, the two winners will play for fifth, and the two losers will play for seventh.

What this does is give the LSC a guaranteed outright champion from the upper bracket, along with no argument about teams’ order of finish in the conference standings.

Of course, the top two teams have chances to advance to the NCAA playoffs. The good news is those voting for the NCAA playoffs will have their work cutout for them with this playoff because they will know exactly the two hottest teams in the LSC.

I love the idea.

So did the LSC presidents, who voted unanimously to put the plan in place for the 2014 season, said West Texas A&M athletic director Michael McBroom.

“This will clearly identify who the Lone Star Conference football champion will be,” McBroom said. “We will have a bona fide LSC champion playing the game at the site of the highest seed. This format should make for competitive games and mean every team has something to play for all season long.”

This football playoff format is built with eight teams in mind.

With the LSC losing Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word to the Southland Conference when the school year ends, the LSC is left with seven teams playing football.

It’s obvious that one goal for the LSC is to find at least one school to give the conference at least eight football-playing schools. Texas Woman’s doesn’t field a football team.

I say good job, LSC presidents.

This is an innovative idea not only with fan interest in mind, but a cool deal for the players and coaches, too.

Tech’s Kingsbury completes staff

The Kliff Kingsbury era at Texas Tech continues to take shape as the new head football coach completed his coaching staff last week.

Familiar faces dot the coaching staff, including a tie to West Texas A&M.

Kingsbury has selected former Red Raiders Sonny Cumbie and Eric Morris as co-offensive coordinators. Cumbie will be in charge of the outside receivers and Morris will coach the inside receivers.

Former WT offensive coordinator Lee Hays will be the offensive line coach. Mike Jinks makes the move from Steele High School to running backs coach.

Mike Smith, who played at Lubbock Coronado and Texas Tech, was named co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Former Red Raiders All-Americans Kevin Curtis and Trey Haverty are the cornerbacks and safeties coaches, respectively. John Scott Jr. from Georgia Southern is the defensive line coach.

What’s all this mean?

We will find out together on Aug. 31 when Tech opens at Southern Methodist.

Tebow, Ryan set for Amarillo events

Looks like our city is in store for two famous athletes to visit the next couple of months.

Nolan Ryan, the Texas Rangers CEO and president and Hall of Fame pitcher, will host an event sponsored by The Bridge on Jan. 30 at Amarillo Botanical Gardens.

Not surprisingly, the event is sold out.

From the left-field bleachers, I saw Ryan pitch a game against Roger Clemens on April 30, 1989, at Arlington. Ryan went eight innings and won 2-1. The game remains one of my favorite MLB experiences in person.

I have met Ryan a couple of times and became a bigger fan after meeting him. That’s rarely the case for me with famous athletes.

New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow will speak at Trinity Fellowship Church on March 21. This is part of the “Go Long Experience.” By attending the event, you will help Faith City Ministries raise money for its worthy cause of feeding the hungry and addicted.

I’ve never met Tebow. He seems like a sincere person. As a Broncos fan, I cheered that playoff win against the Steelers last season.

I’m hoping Tebow doesn’t talk about the art of throwing the forward pass. I’m hoping we all get to see Tebow “Tebowing” in person.